Collection d'Arnell Andréa have always occupied a unique place amidst both the francophone and
international scene, given the particularity of their music, incomparable to any other, with their
sonorities evoking a fin de siècle golden age, a Baudelairean autumnal Romanticism, a melancholic
vein, drawn from the very essence of the literary and mundane spirit prevalent at the end of the
19th Century, and the beginning of the 20th, in this vital and innate approach of nature deemed
intact, of forests radiant with the colours of fire, of rivers bathed in pastel shades, of fields
in bloom and bewitching mists. The eternal autumn, recurring and main theme of their work, articulates
itself around a gilded and privileged epoch, characterized by Romanticism and, inevitably, war, an
epoch of refined cafés and trenches. After a long period of discographic silence, Collection d'Arnell
Andréa are thus back with this miraculous album that had been talked about for long yet appeared
shelved for good. Seven new pieces and seven recompositions of ancient works, relying on one of the
most classical orchestrations that weds the grace and voluptuousness of the violoncello, the piano
and the viola with la fragile voice of Chloé St-Liphard. An acoustic instrumentation that dwells on
what the group essentially entails, in its classical and elitist roots, tinged with spleen and evasion,
along the banks of the river Loire. An exhaustive autumnal promenade along this mythical river, its
eternal landscapes, where the sentiments of dead leaves swirling about opaque mists conjure up past
memories of a golden age again. The song of the earth, the poetic lament of a captivating act that has
proved unique in its genre and of impressive talent, offering a new gem of autumn music. A seasonal
record, an indispensable masterpiece.
Magnificent !
Stéphane F.
Winter 2003
Translation: Volker
Label : Prikosnovénie
www.multimania.com/prikos